6th Fallschirmjaeger Regiment

The 6th Fallschirmjaeger Regiment was a German Wehrmacht parachute regiment that was active during World War II. The regiment was organized in February 1943 under the command of Major Egon Liebach, and it trained in parachute and glider operations in France; it was assigned to the German 2nd Parachute Division. It participated in the capture of the Italian capital of Rome after Italy's 1943 capitulation, and it battled against Italian troops and the Italian Resistance.

In November 1943, the regiment was deployed to the Russian front, where it fought courageously into the spring of 1944, when it returned to Germany for refitting. The regiment was then deployed to Normandy in France, and Friedrich von der Heydte took command of the regiment. The regiment fought in the Cotentin Peninsula, and it soon came to rely only on itself, as its supporting units were either poorly-trained reserve units or forces of Ostlegionen, former Soviet POWs who had been pressed into German service. The regiment defended Sainte Marie-du-Mont during Operation Overlord, and it took part in the defense of the hedgerows of Normandy from the advancing Americans, many of whom were themselves paratroopers. The regiment was mauled at the Battle of the Barquette Locks, and it fought furiously for its life in and around Sainte-Mere-Eglise. It was later pushed out of Carentan, and it withdrew to Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte after the Battle of Seves Island.

The regiment was destroyed in the Falaise Gap in August 1944, and it was later reformed in Pomerania, Germany before being sent to the Netherlands. It was caught in the middle of Operation Market Garden, and it took part in the Battle of the Bulge offensive. The Germans suffered from a lack of supplies, however, and the regiment was battered as it withdrew into Germany. The regiment offered hopeless resistance around Aachen, and its remnants laid down their arms in mid-April.